


Everything Is Different Now

by stanfordpines



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Reader Insert, Slight canon deviation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 00:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18042143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stanfordpines/pseuds/stanfordpines
Summary: After the love of your life is sucked into a portal to another dimension, you spend thirty years trying to get him back. But by the time you finally do, everything about your life is different than it was.





	Everything Is Different Now

**Author's Note:**

> me? writing reader insert fanfics in this the year of our lord 2019? you bet!  
> so this took me two weeks to write and it takes literally an hour to read so have fun with that and let me know what you think maybe??  
> and yes, there will be a second chapter

_"Stanley! Stanley, help me!"_  
_"Oh no, what do I do?"_  
_"Stanley, (y/n), do something! (y/n)!"_

You sat bolt upright in your bed, your mouth opening wide as you gasped in a deep breath of air. You could feel your heart racing in your chest as you struggled to catch your breath, reaching your hand up to wipe the sweat off of your forehead. You blinked your eyes hard, glancing around at the dark room that you were sitting in. It was your bedroom, not the basement where the portal was. Yet that dream had been so real; you still felt as if you were standing in front of the portal, your entire body frozen in fear as you watched your worst nightmare unfold in front of you. But it wasn't just a dream. As hard as it was to admit to yourself, you were reliving a memory.

Three days ago, a man you had never met showed up on your doorstep. He was a stranger with a familiar face and a familiar name. Of course, you knew that Ford had a twin brother, but it had been so long since they had cut ties that you had never even seen a picture of him. The first time you saw Ford's brother, Ford was ushering him in out of the cold, waving around one of his journals and rambling wildly about showing him something he wouldn't believe. As Ford started making his way toward the stairs, you knew he was talking about the portal.

That portal, as far as you were concerned, was nothing but bad news. Ford had been so excited about building it. He had even confessed to you that he was getting the instructions from a being who called himself Bill Cipher. You had lived surrounded by Gravity Falls' weirdness for long enough to know that things weren't always what they seemed, so you were fairly skeptical of Bill's apparent helpfulness. But Ford trusted him, and you didn't want to stir up trouble, so you didn't voice your concerns. All was fine for awhile, until Fiddleford was almost sucked into the portal. At Fiddleford's urging, Ford finally confronted Bill about the portal, and discovered his true plans.

After that, Ford became paranoid and decided he had to hide his journals to keep the portal from ever being used. You hid one of the journals, Ford hid another, but you were still left with one journal to hide. Ford decided that he needed to get this last journal as far away from Gravity Falls as he could, so he sent a postcard to the one person he thought would be able to help. About a week later, Stanley arrived.

You watched as Ford led his brother down into the portal room. You knew that it was important to Ford that he convinced Stanley to take the journal, so you stayed upstairs and waited. For a few minutes, all was quiet. Then you felt the floor start to shake beneath your feet. You knew from the many times Ford had tested the portal that the rumbling meant the portal had been activated, which was something Ford said he would never do again. Feeling worry start to well up in your chest like the slowly overflowing water in a plugged up sink, you raced down to the basement.

Once the elevator reached the ground, you practically sprinted through the basement. When you reached the doorway to the portal room, your arms reached out to grab onto the doorframe as a means of stopping yourself. Your forearms hit the sides of the doorway, but your body was still being propelled forward by the inertia you had created as you ran, so your upper body leaned into the portal room before being stopped abruptly by your arms' inability to stretch any farther.

As you looked through the doorway and into the portal room, you saw Stanley shove Ford backwards over the caution line that Ford had drawn in front of the portal. Before you could react, Ford was lifted off the ground and pulled towards the portal by an invisible force. You felt frozen, unable to even breathe, as you watched Ford getting closer and closer to the opening of the portal. He called out to Stanley for help, but Stanley didn't know how to stop it. As Ford reached the mouth of the portal, he caught sight of you standing in the doorway. The last words you heard him say were, "(y/n), do something! _(y/n)!_ "

That first night you didn't sleep at all. You sat against the wall in the portal room, staring at the now disabled portal in a daze. You were vaguely aware of Stanley noticing you and trying to talk to you, but his voice sounded distant and you couldn't seem to make out what he was saying. It wasn't until the next day that you really understood what had happened. Ford, your Ford, was gone. The portal was broken and the instructions to fix it were scattered across town. Even if you went to get the journal you had hidden, you had no idea where Ford had hidden his third journal. You didn't know where the portal lead, where Ford was, or if he was even still alive. Now you were alone in the house you once shared, your only company a man that you barely knew anything about, but who looked so much like Ford.

For the next couple of days, you and Stanley simply existed in the same space. You couldn't seem to make yourself talk to him, and he never tried to start a conversation. You weren't sure when it had happened, but the two of you had come to an unspoken agreement that Stanley could stay in your house. You didn't see him often, he spent most of his time in the basement and you didn't have the strength to tell him that trying to fix the portal was not only dangerous, but probably impossible.

You spent those first three days wandering around in a fog, barely eating or sleeping. The house felt empty and quiet now, it's only occupants a stranger in the basement and you, wandering the halls like a sleepwalker in a melancholic dream. The house had once been so full of life and energy, brightened by Ford's mere presence. You remembered the first time you had been in the house, the first time you had met Ford. 

Your car had popped a tire on your way home during one of the worst thunderstorms you had ever seen. The clouds were so dark that the sky was almost pitch black, and the rain was coming down in cold, unforgiving sheets. Through the windshield of your stalled car, you could see the faint glow of a lighted window set back in the trees. For a moment, you felt as though you were a sailor lost at sea who had just caught sight of a lighthouse. The thought caused you to laugh softly to yourself. The light you saw was no lighthouse, that was for sure. You could only hope that it was a house with someone home, but your only other alternative was staying in your car for who knows how long until the storm passed.

So you held your coat over your head and ran through the trees to the light, your feet splashing through puddles of mud and freezing rainwater. You were glad to see that your guess was correct, it was indeed a house with a light on. You ran up the steps to the porch, relieved when the roof blocked the rain. You knocked on the door once with no answer, but you were cold and wet so you knocked again, louder this time. The door finally swung open, and you were engulfed in the warm light emanating from the house. There was a man standing in the doorway, looking slightly bewildered to discover you on his porch; a woman who was soaked with rainwater, her makeup running down her cheeks, shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. You could feel your breath catch in your throat as you took him in, a young, handsome man with bright eyes and broad shoulders. He was wearing a pair of glasses that caught the light of the house and reflected it back to you, and a thick turtleneck sweater that your shivering body envied.

You opened your mouth to explain to this man what you were doing on his porch this late in the evening, but instead you just stood there gaping for a moment before he broke the silence. "Come in here, you look like you're freezing to death." He said, reaching out to take you by the arm and pull you into the house. "Thank you." You managed to say, your heart fluttering at the physical contact with this attractive stranger. It was much warmer inside the house, and you could feel your chill starting to subside. "Wait here, I'll go get you a towel." The man said, vanishing down a hallway and leaving you alone in his entryway. You took this time to look around the room; aside from furniture it was mostly filled with papers and books, and what looked like a dinosaur skull in a fish tank. The owner of the house soon returned and handed you a bath towel, which you thanked him for before using it to dry off as much of yourself as you could.

The stranger watched you in silence for a minute before asking you what you were doing outside in the rain. You told him about your broken down car and how your house was on the other side of town. He thought for a moment before telling you that he could take a look at your car as soon as the rain let up, and until then you were welcome to stay inside and warm up. As it would happen, the storm didn't pass for quite some time and you spent the night talking to the man that you had come to know as Stanford Pines. He told you about his research into the mysteries of Gravity Falls, and you told him about all of the strange things you had seen since you had moved to the town.

Ford was intelligent and excitable, and he made for great company. You were amazed to learn that all of the strange creatures that you had seen out of the corners of your eyes were all real, and that Ford had successfully captured many of them to study. You couldn't seem to keep yourself from asking him hundreds of questions about the magical and oftentimes mythical creatures he had encountered. Ford was happy to answer all of your questions, which he assured you with a laugh as you apologized for bombarding him with your queries.

You weren't the only one asking questions though. Ford was interested not just in your experiences with the supernatural, but also in your personal life. You usually wouldn't give out this much of your private information to a stranger, but Ford was so open and charming that you felt as if he wasn't a stranger at all. So you told him about how you had moved to Gravity Falls after graduating from college, found a job at a small local store, and quickly got used to calling the town home.

When the storm finally ended, Ford pulled out a flashlight and used it to light the way through the dark forest as you led him to your car. Ford dug around in the car's trunk for a lug wrench and a spare tire, then set to work on switching the tires out. You couldn't help but stare as he rolled up his sleeves for better mobility, revealing forearms that were more muscular than you were expecting from a guy who spent most of his time in a lab. Ford hummed softly as he worked, stopping every now and then to politely ask you to hold something for him, or move the flashlight to light a certain spot. When he was finished, he stood up from the crouch he had been in and dusted off his hands.

"Well, it looks like you're good to go." Ford said, lightly patting your car as he did so. You thanked him profusely, offering to pay him for fixing your car. Ford only chuckled and waved off your offer, telling you that it was just the neighborly thing to do. Ford then opened the driver's side door of your car and held it so that you could get in. Ford shut the door behind you and you turned on your car, prepared to return home, but feeling almost reluctant to leave. But before you could drive away, Ford motioned for you to roll your window down, which you did eagerly.

"You know (y/n), I rather enjoyed talking with you tonight." He said, sounding strangely nervous. "So did I." You responded, smiling at him and silently encouraging him to go on. "You wouldn't happen to be free sometime this week would you? I've been wanting to go into town but I imagine it would be more fun to go with someone who knows the area." Ford said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. "I would love to show you around!" You said, maybe a little too excitedly. Ford looked back up at you, seeming pleased yet almost surprised. "You would? I mean, that's great! What day is good for you?" He asked. You told him when you were free and the two of you set a day to meet back up and go into town. As you drove down the dirt road towards the town, you looked in your rearview mirror and saw Ford waving at you, his figure illuminated by the bright light of the full moon. You left Ford's house that night with a smile stuck on your face and butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

The next year was one of the best years of your life. It was a whirlwind year full of new-found love and big life changes. You and Ford started spending more and more time together as the months passed. You showed Ford all of your favorite places in Gravity Falls, like Greasy's Diner and the old disco joint that would somehow stay open for another ten years. You started assisting Ford with his research of the town's anomalies. The two of you would spend hours out in the forest searching for creatures and collecting strange samples. Every so often you would stay the night at Ford's house after a long day of research, which made him a nervous wreck at first, but it was something that he gradually warmed up to.

Soon enough, Ford found that he liked having you around. It wasn't long before Ford asked you to move in with him, and you happily accepted the offer. Ford's house, which had been your light in the darkness on the cold and rainy day that you met Ford, soon became home to you. Ford loved having you in the house, he claimed that you made the place seem less like a lab and more like a real home. You joked that it was probably only because you had brought some of your furniture with you and used it to decorate a few of the empty rooms. But Ford was always convinced that it was just the presence of you that made the house more cozy.

Now that he was gone, you knew that you had nothing to do with it. It was Ford who brought warmth and light to the house, and without him everything was different. There was a stillness about the air that hadn't been there before, and a sort of creeping silence that you didn't recognize. Without Ford, the light seemed to be gone from the house. No matter how many lamps you turned on or candles you lit, their light seemed dim, muffled by a darkness that you couldn't scare away. 

As you sat in your bed, thinking about Ford, you began to cry. It started off quiet, just a few tears slipping past your lashes before you could stop them. But the more you tried not to, the harder you cried. It occurred to you that in these last three days you hadn't cried once. You had just felt numb since that night, but now that you were in the dark, alone with your thoughts and feelings and memories of Ford, you cried hard enough to make up for the absence of emotion you felt the last few days.

You brought your legs up to your chest and wrapped your arms around them, resting your head on your knees and sobbing into them. You could feel your body shake with the force of your sobs, but you couldn't seem to calm down. You felt, for the first time in your life, as if you were really and truly alone. As if you were once again in that small boat out on the open ocean, but this time there was no lighthouse to guide you safely to shore. Instead, you were trapped, with no one near to help you as the harsh waves rocked your boat without mercy. But then, suddenly, there was someone else with you.

Stanley had been asleep on the couch when he was awoken by the sound of your sobs from a few rooms away. He reacted without thinking, pushing himself off of the couch and stumbling down the dark hallway to your room. Without saying a word, he sat down beside you on the bed and enveloped you in his arms. You stiffened instinctively for a moment before relaxing into his embrace, leaning against his chest as your body was racked with sobs. He smelled faintly of cigarettes and sweat, but his body was warm and, as much as you hated to admit it, you had been desperately craving close contact. Despite sharing a face, he felt much different than Ford. His arms had more muscle, and you could feel that he had a little more weight on around the stomach. It felt strange to you, to be held so intimately by someone who wasn't Ford, but at this point you didn't really mind the differences.

You could feel your tears start to subside as Stanley's presence calmed you. He ran his hands gently up and down your back, and you sighed softly in contentment. You were worn out from your outpouring of emotion, and your eyelids started to droop heavily despite your efforts to stay awake. The rhythmic rise and fall of Stanley's chest as he breathed was the last thing you remembered feeling before you drifted off to sleep.

When you woke back up, daylight was streaming in through the window near your bed, and you had to blink a few times as your eyes adjusted to the bright light. You looked around your bed, unsurprised to find that you were, once again, alone. You assumed that Stanley must have left sometime after you fell asleep. It was warm under the covers, but as you got out of bed, you shivered at the chilliness of the house. Pulling on a jacket and crossing your arms over your chest to keep in what warmth you had left, you exited your room and made your way down the hall to the kitchen.

When you got to the kitchen, you saw Stanley standing at the counter, fiddling with the coffee maker. He must have heard your footsteps in the hallway, because as soon as you stepped through the doorway he turned partially towards you and said, "Mornin'." His greeting surprised you. You were almost certain that he hadn't said a single word to you since the night he arrived. His voice sounded gruff, but not unkind. He seemed to be watching you intently, as if his greeting had been his way of testing the waters and he was now waiting for your reaction.

"Good morning." You responded quietly, moving past him to the refrigerator. "How, uh, how're you feelin'?" Stanley asked, trying to appear nonchalant by returning to his work on the coffee maker, but watching you out of the corner of his eye. "Better." You answered simply, and as you said it, you realized it was true. You did feel better after letting out some of your bottled up emotions. "That's good." Stanley said, sounding somewhat relieved. You watched as he turned his attention back to the coffee maker, his eyebrows furrowing in frustration after he spent a few minutes clicking buttons and flicking levers to no avail. You smiled slightly in amusement as you noticed that the machine wasn't plugged in to the electrical socket.

"Here, let me." You said, stepping closer to the counter. Stanley took a step back to give you more room, and watched as you plugged the coffee maker into the socket. As soon as you did, the machine made a gurgling noise and started pouring coffee into the pot. You turned back to face Stanley, whose cheeks had gone red with embarrassment. "Oh, right. I coulda figured that out." He said, causing you to laugh. As you did, you noticed a smile come to Stanley's face. Unknown to you, Stanley had felt his heart skip a beat when you laughed, and he thought to himself that it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

When the coffee was finished, Stanley poured some into two mugs and you both sat down at the kitchen table to drink it. It was silent for a few minutes before Stanley spoke up. "So, you're Ford's... girlfriend?" He asked. You nodded in response, taking a sip of your coffee. "Huh. I can't believe poindexter managed to get himself a girl." Stanley said to himself, shaking his head slightly. "What about that is so hard to believe?" You questioned, leaning forward slightly. "Well, you know, Ford's always been a little bit of a... no, not a little bit, he's a huge nerd." Stanley answered. "I know, but he's sweet." You said, chuckling as Stanley looked at you with an unsure expression. "How'd the two of you even meet anyway?" Stanley asked skeptically.

So you told him about the night you met Ford. Stanley listened intently, seeming genuinely interested in your story. You assumed that he was mostly interested in learning about what his brother had been up to since they cut ties. Stanley asked all kinds of questions. Most of them were about you and Ford, Ford's research, the mysteries of the town, and even your life. You were happy to answer his questions, and in return, he told you about his life on the road and his failed business ventures. The two of you talked for hours, making up for three days of silence. You discovered that you really enjoyed Stanley's company, and you had a feeling that Stanley was just as enthused with the conversation as you were.

At first it was strange to you; talking to a man whose face looked exactly like Ford's, but who shared no other similarities with him. But after a while, you became used to it. You spent the next week developing a friendship with Stanley. The two of you spent most of your time in the basement, trying to make sense of the pieces of the portal's blueprints that you had. You only had the first two journals, the one Ford had tried to give to Stanley and the one you had hidden in town. You tried to find the third journal, but there was no way of knowing where Ford had hidden it. Without that journal, the blueprints you had didn't make much sense.

After a few days you started to run low on food. Stanley volunteered to go into town, so you gave him directions to the grocery store and a couple of dollars that you found in your wallet. You realized that, between the two of you, you didn't have very much money. You were short on cash because you had quit your job earlier that year to help with Ford's research full-time, and as for Stanley, you were pretty sure he hadn't had more than ten dollars at one time since the late '50s. Unfortunately for you, Ford had stashed his remaining grant money in a bank account that you didn't have access to, so neither you nor Stanley currently had any way to make money. Until Stanley went into town.

When he came back, he had a group of people following him. You could hear the people chattering away excitedly about finally getting to see where the mysterious scientist lived. You stayed in the kitchen, peeking around the corner to watch as Stanley showed the group random things he found around the living room. They seemed delighted, but you weren't sure you liked having a group of strangers in your house. They didn't stay for too long though, as soon as Stanley ran out of things to interest them with, he ushered the group out the door and told them they'd have to wait to see more at the next tour. When Stanley closed the door, you stepped out of the kitchen and joined him in the entryway.

"Stanley, what-" You started, prepared to berate him for bringing strangers into your house without asking, but he cut you off. "(y/n), look!" He said, slapping a wad of cash onto an end table. Your eyebrows raised in surprise as you stared at the money. There had to be at least a hundred dollars there, if not more. Your gaze drifted back to Stanley, who had the biggest grin on his face that you'd ever seen. "This is all from those people?" You asked, gesturing to the door that the group had just left from. "Yeah, and guess what? They all want to come back tomorrow to see more, and they're fine with paying for it!" Stanley exclaimed. You looked back at the money on the end table, then again to Stanley's grinning face, and changed your mind about not having strangers in the house. "Well in that case, let's get this place cleaned up." You said, shooting Stanley a smile that nearly matched his.

So the two of you spent all night cleaning up the room that Ford had used for his research, which was full of all kinds of strange instruments and samples. You hid most of Ford's things in a closet, and only left out the things that looked really interesting, like the jars of dead creatures and the machines that made noises when you turned them on. Some of the things you left out you weren't so sure about, but Stanley convinced you that he could make anything sound interesting to a paying customer. And, as you found out later, he really could.

The next day, there was a line of nearly forty people standing outside the door. You stayed in the main part of the house while Stanley took the tour into Ford's old research room, showing them everything that you had set out the night before. After an hour, Stanley returned, holding up a stack of bills that was almost three inches thick. "Told ya I could make anything interesting." Stanley said, flashing you that charming grin.

You kept up this same routine for the next few months, finding and even making new things to rotate out with the objects you had in Ford's research room, which you now called the "museum". Before you knew it, Stanley was making enough money off of his tours to pay for bills and food. The tours seemed to be a huge hit with the townspeople, and Stanley started to become something of a local celebrity. Every time you went into town with Stanley, people would stop to talk to him, telling him how much they enjoyed his tours and how they couldn't wait to go back. Stanley's gig became so popular that he decided he had to give the house a name so that it felt more branded, and so he could start advertising more heavily. The two of you spent an hour trying to come up with names, until Stanley finally settled on one he liked.

"How about, the Murder Hut?" He suggested, and you frowned at the name. "Isn't that a little... intense?" You asked, but you could see from the look on Stanley's face that he liked the name and he probably wasn't going to take any criticism from you. "Intensity is what draws crowds (y/n). People like to be intrigued, and what's more intriguing than the implication that people were murdered here?" Stanley countered, proving your suspicions right. "What if the sheriff thinks you're serious about the whole murder thing?" You asked, but Stanley just laughed. "Trust me (y/n), we won't have any trouble with the cops. Stanford Pines has never done a single illegal thing in his life." Stanley said, dropping you a wink.

You felt a pang in your heart as he said Ford's name, but you shook it off. You knew that him taking Ford's name was for the best, especially since Stanley had been in so much trouble with the law over the last few years. He had faked his own death to take on Ford's identity, and he had convinced you that it was necessary to keep the both of you safe. So you slowly got used to calling him Stan instead of Stanley, and you never mentioned Ford when other people were around. If it wasn't for you and Stan, no one in Gravity Falls would even know that Ford was gone. Except perhaps, Fiddleford McGucket, but you weren't sure if he remembered much at all anymore. The last you heard from him he had successfully made a memory erasing device, and he had used it on himself so often that whenever you saw him in town he barely seemed to know who you were.

But you hadn't given up on Ford yet. During the day, Stan gave tours in the museum, but at night, the two of you spent your time working on the portal. Even though it was difficult and frustrating without the third set of blueprints, and you often made little to no headway for weeks on end, you still tried. You and Stan vowed that as long as there was a chance that Ford was still alive, you would try your hardest to fix the portal. No matter what it took.

So you and Stan continued to work on the portal every night for weeks, which turned into months, which turned into years. As the seasons changed, so did things at the house. "The Murder Hut" unsurprisingly wasn't a very popular name, so you convinced Stan to change it to something a little more tame. He finally settled on "The Mystery Shack" which visitors seemed to love. Now that the house had a proper name, Stan had it printed on shirts and bumper stickers to sell to visitors. You even cleaned out Ford's old storage room and converted it into a gift shop to sell whatever new merchandise Stan could get his hands on. Every few weeks you would add new attractions to the museum. Sometimes those new attractions would be things you found among Ford's stuff, other times they would be things that Stan had found around the house or at the store and glued together. Over time, Stan developed a character that he put on during tours. He called himself "Mister Mystery," and he wore a hat and whatever dress shirt and tie that you could find for cheap at the store.

But the biggest change wasn't a new name or new merchandise, it was the developing relationship between you and Stan. The two of you had become comfortable and friendly with each other, but the more time you spent together, the deeper your feelings seemed to get. At first you hid your feelings from Stan. Partly because you weren't sure if he felt the same way or not, but mostly because you were ashamed. Even though Ford had been gone for years now, you still felt like you were cheating on him in a way, and with his identical twin no less. But when Stan finally worked up the courage to ask you out on a date, you couldn't find it in yourself to say no.

The first date you and Stan went on was to Greasy's Diner, whose head waitress was a woman named Susan who had been a regular visitor during the early days of the Mystery Shack. When you walked in, Susan spotted you and immediately walked over to say hi. "Well, if it isn't Mister and Missus Mystery. I was hopin' I'd see you two come by the diner again!" Susan greeted cheerfully. Stan glanced at you and mouthed "Again?" but you waved him off and gave him a look that told him you would explain later. You thought it was probably best not to tell Stan that the restaurant he had chosen for your first date was the same restaurant that his twin brother had taken you to on many of your dates. "Well, it is the best restaurant in town." You said, at which Susan smiled brightly. You looked back over at Stan, who had gotten unusually quiet, and noticed him trying to avoid staring at Susan's lazy eye with a somewhat guilty look on his face. "I'm sure glad you did, it's been much too long since I've seen y'all! Let me show you to a table." Susan responded, leading you and Stan to a booth near the back of the diner.

As you sat down, Susan took your orders, then disappeared into the kitchen. "This really is the best restaurant in town. Even though there are only three other restaurants." You said casually, looking around at the brightly lit diner. "Uh-huh." Stan responded, fidgeting with the buttons on his shirt cuffs. You regarded him in silence for a moment, making note of his newly cut hair, his freshly shaven face, and the sheen of sweat on his forehead. You could tell that he had really tried hard to look good for tonight, and that he was uncharacteristically nervous.

"Stan, what's the matter?" You asked, knowing him well enough to know that there was something on his mind. "Nothin'." He grunted, his gaze fixed on his hands. "Stanley." You said, low enough that the other patrons in the diner couldn't hear. Your use of his full name caused him to look up at you in surprise. He was silent for a moment, seeming as if he was weighing his options, then he sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just- It's been awhile since I've been out with with a girl that I really liked, ya'know? I don't wanna... mess this up." Stan admitted, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. A smile tugged at the corners of your lips, which caused Stan to ask, "What?" with a look of confusion on his face. "You... really like me?" You asked teasingly.

Stan saw the glimmer of amusement on your face and rolled his eyes defensively. "Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. You're the one who asked." He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Stan," you started, trying to contain your laughter, "I'm only joking. I really like you too." At this, Stan looked back up at you, searching your face to see whether you were being serious or not. "You do?" Stan asked. "Yeah, of course I do, don't sound so surprised. Why would I have gone out on a date with you if I didn't?" You responded, causing Stan to shrug. "I don't know, I kinda thought you just felt sorry for me." He answered. "Stan, no. I said yes because I wanted to go out with you. I've been waiting for you to ask for awhile." You confessed. That seemed to be the confidence boost that Stan needed, because after that he was back to his usual suave persona.

Susan reappeared with your food and told you to let her know if you needed anything, then hurried off to serve other customers. The rest of your date went well; now that neither of you were nervous, it felt just how hanging out together usually did. The two of you talked about the Shack and how successful it was, Stan talked about his plans for new attractions, and you suggested putting a sign up on the roof so tourists knew what to look for. After you had finished your food and talked for a couple of hours, Stan suggested casually that you go out for a drive. You agreed, even though you figured Stan must have some ulterior motive.

Sure enough, you were right. You couldn't keep yourself from laughing as Stan parked the car at Lookout Point, a spot that had gained popularity among local teens as a great spot to sit in their car with their partners for some uninterrupted alone time. "What?" Stan asked, trying and failing to look offended at your laughter. "Lookout Point? What are we, high schoolers?" You asked, causing Stan to chuckle. "Ah, come on. We've been workin' pretty hard lately, I think we've earned the right to act a little immature every now and then." He said, and you didn't miss the sly grin on his face as he did.

"Actually, there are two flaws in that logic." You pointed out. "Oh yeah? And what would those flaws be?" Stan asked, regarding you with a quirked brow. "Well, firstly, you act immature most of the time." You teased, which earned you a "Hey!" and an indignant look from Stan. "Second, you said that we've been working hard, but I haven't been working much at all. The Mystery Shack is all you." You finished, gesturing vaguely at Stan with your last sentence. "Pshh, that's not true. I may give the tours but the Shack wouldn't last a week without you." Stan said. You shook your head and opened you mouth to contend, but Stan cut you off. "I'm serious (y/n). I don't think I could run the Shack alone. I don't even know if the Shack would exist if it weren't for you. I might have just spent the rest of my life in the basement trying to fix that damn portal. I don't know where I'd be without you." Stan said, his joking attitude completely replaced by a serious expression.

You were taken aback by how genuine and open Stan was being with you, and you had no idea how to respond to that confession. The silence between the two of you was thick as you stared at each other from either side of the car. A new and unexpected urge overtook you, and you realized that you had been subconsciously leaning towards Stan. It wasn't just you, Stan was moving closer to you as well. For just a moment, you thought 'Oh God, is he about to kiss me?', and then a split second later he closed the distance and captured your lips with his.

That night was the start of a relationship that lasted for the next twenty-five years. After the first three years of dating, Stan finally proposed to you. You said yes, and a year later you got married. You had always been told that your wedding would be the happiest day of your life, but you never truly believed that until your wedding actually happened. You and Stan had a small ceremony surrounded by friends and family, but you would have been just as happy if it had only been the two of you.

Although Stan wasn't much of a cryer, you were certain that you saw him wipe away a few tears as you walked down the aisle. You shed a few tears yourself as you and Stan took your vows. Finally, you said "I do." and realized that you truly meant those two words, more than anything else you had ever said before. When it was time for Stan to kiss the bride, he took you in his arms and dipped you towards the floor in typical Stan fashion. Your squeak of alarm was muffled by Stan planting his lips on yours, and you almost rolled your eyes as you heard your guests laugh at the two of you. When Stan pulled you back up, he had the biggest grin on his face and you could see a look of pure, unadulterated joy sparkling in his eyes.

At your wedding, you met Stan's younger brother Sherman for the first time. Stan had refused to invite anyone else from his family, and you hadn't pushed the subject. Sherman was nice, and he was glad to reconnect with his brother after so many years apart. Of course, he thought that it was Ford he was talking to, and luckily he didn't seem to suspect anything. Sherman returned the favor by inviting you and Stan to his wedding, and then the birth of his kids. He and his wife would take the kids up to the Mystery Shack when they were young, and you enjoyed having them around. When Sherman's kids grew up and one had kids of their own, Sherman invited you down to see them.

Sherman's grandkids, you and Stan's great niece and nephew, were a pair of twins named Mason and Mabel. They were the cutest kids you had ever seen, and you immensely enjoyed the week you and Stan spent with them. But you soon had to return to Gravity Falls and the Mystery Shack. The Shack had become a popular tourist destination by then, so it was busier than ever. More customers meant more work, and more work meant it was hard for you and Stan to take the time off to go visit Sherman's family. As Mason, who now went by the nickname Dipper, and Mabel got older, they were busy with school and friends, so their parents could never find the time to take them up to the Shack. But you missed your great niece and nephew, so when their parents called and asked if they could send the twins up to spend the summer with you and Stan, you happily agreed.

Stan wasn't so sure about it at first, of course he loved the twins but he thought that he had never been very good with kids and he didn't know what to do with two preteens for a whole summer. You convinced him that it would be fine. After all, they were old enough to fend for themselves most of the time so it couldn't be that hard to take care of them. Of course, you didn't really know for sure because you and Stan had never had any kids of your own. But you never got to spend very much time with the twins, so you thought it was at least worth a try.

Mabel was easy. After her initial, "What even is there to do in this town?", she actually warmed up to the place pretty quickly. You discovered that Mabel's creative tendencies extended to the kitchen, so she became your cooking buddy. Even if her food wasn't always edible, you still enjoyed spending time making it with her. Dipper, on the other hand, was still on the fence about the whole situation. It didn't help that Stan liked to make Dipper do the more unfavorable odd jobs around the Shack, which often led to the two butting heads. Dipper had the tendency to be serious and closed off, which reminded you a lot of Ford. You knew from experience with Ford that you couldn't pressure him into being sociable, or he might shut you all out entirely. So you were patient, and you convinced Stan to go a little easier on him, and eventually Dipper came around.

A few weeks after the twins arrived, Dipper started mentioning things that were out of the ordinary. At first it just seemed like regular kid paranoia, like thinking Mabel's boyfriend was a zombie, or being convinced that things were watching him when he was alone in the woods. But then he started talking about things like a sea monster in the lake, and ghosts in the old convenience store. He was convinced that there were strange and mythical creatures living in the woods around Gravity Falls. You knew it couldn't be a coincidence, he had to have encountered something from the stranger side of Gravity Falls. You voiced your concerns to Stan, and he shared your worries. Stan decided it would be safer to keep the twins away from the weirdness of the town, and he made you promise to deny any supernatural activity should Dipper or Mabel ever ask you about it.

At first it didn't seem like it would be a very big deal, but as the months passed it became harder and harder to lie to the twins, especially when Dipper was almost constantly confronting you and Stan about it. You started to wonder how Dipper knew about everything supernatural in Gravity Falls, and how he was able to name specific creatures that you were sure he had never seen in the forest. You got your questions answered later that summer.

After a run-in with a child psychic named Gideon Gleeful in which you almost lost the Mystery Shack, you were cleaning up in the living room when Stan came running down the stairs, nearly losing his balance at the end but catching himself on the railing. "Stan, what's going on?" You asked, so startled that you nearly dropped the broom you were holding. "(y/n), they found it." Stan responded, almost out of breath from practically flying down a flight of stairs. "Who found what?" You questioned, leaning the broom against the wall and making your way over to Stan. He pulled a book out from behind his back, and the sight of it made you stop in your tracks.

You could feel your jaw drop and your breath catch in your throat as you stared at the object in Stan's hand. "The kids. They've had it the whole summer, that's why they kept asking all those questions about the town." Stan explained, but you barely heard him. You felt like your thoughts were racing through your mind at a million miles an hour. The book Stan was holding was one that you thought you might never see again. But after all these years, you finally had it. Ford's third journal. You had searched for it for thirty years to no avail, and somehow the twins had stumbled upon it within their first month in Gravity Falls.

But that didn't matter now. What mattered was getting that journal to the basement to add it to the other two. You said this aloud to Stan, and he nodded his head in agreement. Stan checked over his shoulder to make sure the twins were still upstairs, and once he decided the coast was clear, the two of you made your way to the gift shop. Stan quickly punched the code into the vending machine, which swung open to reveal the passageway behind it. You followed Stan down the stairway to the elevator, reaching out to brush your palm against the six-fingered handprint on the wall as you passed by it.

The trip down the elevator felt as if it took forever. You stood next to Stan, your fingers tapping impatiently against your thighs, watching the indicator count the floors as you descended past them. When the doors finally opened, you strode to the control panel and pulled out the other two journals, flipping them open to the pages with the portal's blueprints. Stan opened the third journal and, for the first time in thirty years, reunited Ford's journals. The details on the pages matched up like puzzle pieces, and you and Stan turned to look at each other with expressions of uncontainable excitement.

Using the instructions on the blueprints, you were able to turn on the portal from the control panel. As the lights on the portal's frame started to turn on, Stan shouted "It's working!" and ran to pull the lever in front of the portal. The symbols around the opening of the portal lit up, and a bolt of electricity shot out from the center. You quickly pressed a few buttons on the control panel, causing the screen above your head to turn on. Small sections popped up on the screen, labelled with words like 'sector' and 'statistics'. The words "Auto Scan" flashed on the large middle section, then the scanner turned on and started displaying strange symbols in all of the smaller sections. Stan reappeared next to you at the control panel, glanced briefly at the blueprints, then pulled on one of Ford's old rubber gloves and pulled a switch on the wall. The lights on the portal brightened to such an intensity that you raised a hand to cover your eyes, and the ground started to rumble in that all too familiar way.

Stan turned to look at you, a triumphant grin on his face. "It finally works! After all these years..." He said, trailing off and shaking his head to dispel the far-off look that had settled over his face like a thick fog. "We're not quite there yet. The instructions say that the portal needs fuel, and the fuel gauge looks to be about empty. I think that steel drum over there might have some fuel left in it, but we're gonna need a lot more." You explained, causing Stan to furrow his brows. "What kind of fuel?" He asked gruffly, and you pointed to the journals. Stan walked over to stand behind you, peering over your shoulder at the blueprints. He was silent for a second before nodding to himself and saying, "I'll handle that. You just worry about keepin' the kids off our trail." You agreed to that, and the two of you went back upstairs. 

"The kids can't know that we want the journal or they'll get suspicious. I'm gonna copy the pages so I can give the journal back to Dipper if he asks for it." Stan told you as soon as you reentered the gift shop. That sounded reasonable enough, so you waited while Stan took the journal to the copy machine and copied all the pages that looked important. After he did, he handed you the journal and asked you to put it under the counter in the gift shop so no one else would run across it on accident. As you took the journal to the counter, you ran your fingers across the cover and felt an ache in your heart from an old wound that had never quite healed. But this was no time to be sentimental, you still had quite a bit of work ahead of you if you wanted to reopen the portal. So you hid the journal under the counter and joined Stan in the living room. It seemed that everything would go smoothly from here on out, but unfortunately, that is never the case.

The next morning you officially reopened the Mystery Shack, to the delight of the townspeople. Stan announced the grand reopening party, and then it was back to business as usual. You noticed Dipper ask Stan about the journal, who returned it nonchalantly and said something about how it was so boring that he couldn't finish reading it. After that, Dipper and Mabel ran off to their room, talking excitedly amongst themselves. "Hey, Mr. Pines, what's that code word I'm supposed to yell when I see a government vehicle?" You heard Soos ask from where he stood at the window. "Wait, what? Government vehicle?" Stan repeated, moving to stand beside Soos at the window.

Stan's confused expression quickly morphed into one of alarm and he ran over to the gift shop's intercom, yelling into the microphone that the gift shop was closed and everyone had to leave. As the startled customers made their way to the exit, Dipper and Mabel rushed back into the gift shop and asked what was happening. Stan didn't answer their questions and instead started to pace across the floor, a sheen of sweat breaking out on his forehead. The gift shop doorbell rung, causing everyone inside to freeze. Then, a few knocks sounded from the door, and Stan strode over to open it. As he did, he greeted the two men like he would any other customer, offering up merchandise and maybe even money, but you couldn't quite tell from where you were standing. The men at the door ignored his bribe and introduced themselves as government agents Powers and Trigger who were here to investigate reports of mysterious activity.

"Mysterious activity? In the Mystery Shack? You gotta be joking!" Stan exclaimed, gesturing to the objects around him. The agent who seemed to be in charge assured him that he was not joking, then the agents stepped inside the gift shop to conduct their investigation. "Wait, wait! Did you guys say you're investigating the mysteries of this town?" Dipper asked, running up to Agent Powers. "That information is classified." Powers responded, before glancing around and kneeling down in front of Dipper. He said something that you couldn't quite catch, and Dipper's face lit up. He started chattering away excitedly, holding up the journal in front of Powers' face. Powers handed Dipper a business card and told him that if he had evidence of his claims, they should talk. "We can talk right now! Please, please, come in! I have so much to show you!" Dipper exclaimed, starting to lead Agent Powers further into the Shack.

You turned to look at Stan, your eyes wide with alarm. He caught your look and quickly stepped in between Dipper and the agent, apologizing for the kid's "overactive imagination" and "sweating problem". Mabel laughed at the latter and called out "Zing!" which caused Dipper to glare at her. "Paranormal town stuff is just part of gift shop lore. Sells more tickets, you know?" Stan explained, snapping his fingers at Soos who happily placed headbands and bumper stickers on the agents. Somehow, Agent Powers' frown deepened. "We have other spots to investigate. We'll be on our way." Powers said, turning to exit the gift shop with his partner, who grabbed a handful of bobble heads that he claimed he was "confiscating for evidence."

As the gift shop's door shut behind the agents, you breathed an audible sigh of relief and noticed the tension release from Stan's shoulders. "Wait! No, wait! We've got so much to talk about!" Dipper called out, starting to run after the agents. Stan instinctively held out an arm to stop Dipper. "Hold it kiddo. Trust me, the last thing you want around during a party is cops." Stan said, casually leaning against the vending machine, which snapped shut over the opening to the basement. It was a good thing Stan had caught that, because you hadn't even noticed it was open. If one of those agents had found the entrance to the basement, everything would be over. You felt your stomach sink at that revelation.

"I'm confiscating that card." Stan said, pulling the agent's business card out of Dipper's hand and placing it in his contraband box among a handful of other things he had collected over the years. "Now how's about you try being a normal kid. Flirt with a girl, or steal a pie off a window sill." Stan said, turning towards the entrance to the living room. "But Grunkle Stan! You don't understand!" Dipper argued, but Stan ignored him. "And don't go talking to those agents." Stan said just before he stepped out of the room. "Ugh! That could have been my big break!" Dipper exclaimed in frustration. Mabel went over to console him, so you followed Stan upstairs to your room.

"What are we gonna do about that?" You asked as you reached the doorway to your bedroom. Stan locked his contraband box in his safe before turning to you and sighing. "I don't know yet. But it shouldn't take long to get the portal up and running, so if we can just keep them away for the next week or two we should be in the clear." Stan responded. "But if those two agents find any reason to come sniffing around the Shack-" You started, gesturing behind you in the vague direction of the gift shop. Stan grabbed your hands gently and held them in his to calm you. "(y/n), as long as Dipper can't get in contact with them, those two agents won't have any reason to be poking around here. We don't have anything to worry about now. We're in the home stretch." He reasoned, and you nodded your head slowly. "Okay, you're right. If we can just get through these next few weeks, everything will be fine." You said, mostly to convince yourself.

"Exactly." Stan responded, kissing you softly on your lips. You leaned into the kiss, feeling yourself relax as you did. You knew that no matter what happened, as long as Stan was around, everything would be okay. He would find a way to keep the agents at a distance and get more fuel for the machine, and then you would be able to reopen the portal after these thirty long years of trying. But in the meantime, you had a party to set up for.

You and Stan enlisted the help of the twins, Wendy, and Soos. The six of you spent the next few hours cleaning, decorating, and making snacks in preparation for the grand reopening party. Just before the guests started to arrive, you sat down to rest your feet for a minute. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught a glimpse of Dipper and Wendy sneaking back into the Shack. At first you were only casually interested in what they might be up to, but as the minutes passed you started to get concerned. You told yourself it could just be typical kids sneaking off with no particular motive, but you knew Dipper too well, and you knew he must be up to something he shouldn't. You glanced over to Stan, who was being distracted by Mabel and therefore hadn't noticed Dipper and Wendy sneak away.

Something suddenly clicked in your mind and you realized that they must be looking for the card that Agent Powers gave to Dipper earlier in the day. You quickly stood up and made your way over to Stan, telling him about what you had just been thinking. Stan frowned and looked toward the Shack, then muttered, "That damn kid." under his breath before striding over to the door of the Shack. You followed behind him, glancing around the inside of the Shack and seeing that Dipper and Wendy were definitely not on the first floor. As you and Stan walked up the stairs, you saw Wendy in the hallway looking at her phone. She heard your footsteps and looked up, seeming startled for a moment before an expression of guilt crossed her face.

Stan pushed past her and opened the door to your room, inside of which Dipper was standing, talking hurriedly into the phone. Stan reached over and pressed a button on the phone to end the call, causing Dipper to gasp in surprise. Wendy apologized to Dipper, presumably for not warning him that Stan was coming, and showed him a picture on her phone as an explanation for her being distracted. "Kid, why did you call those agents? I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times, there's nothing supernatural going on in Gravity Falls!" Stan exclaimed, grabbing the phone from Dipper and forcefully returning the receiver to it's base.

"Yes there is! After everything that's happened you have to know that by now!" Dipper argued, but Stan only shook his head in frustration. "All I know is that your dumb obsession is gonna get us all in trouble one of these days. Now go enjoy the rest of the party, 'cause when it's over, you're grounded!" Stan said with finality. Dipper looked to you, silently pleading with you to make Stan see sense, but you avoided his gaze. When he saw that it was useless to continue fighting, Dipper sent Stan one last scathing glare before leaving the room, Wendy following behind him.

As they left, Stan sighed. You reached out and put your hand on his shoulder. "I hate havin' to be so hard on him sometimes, but he just won't listen. Once that kid gets an idea about something he just can't let it go." Stan said, and you nodded sympathetically. "Just like Ford." You added softly, that familiar ache in your heart growing stronger as you said it. Stan looked to you and his expression looked the way you felt. "I know. He acts so much like Ford did." Stan said, looking lost in his memories. It was quiet for a moment before Stan shook off his old ghosts and the two of you headed back downstairs.

You were going to return to the party, but Stan convinced you to accompany him to the basement instead. "Are you sure I shouldn't keep watch out there just in case?" You asked. "Ah, the kids can handle it. Besides, I think I saw Sheriff Blubbs show up with his partner earlier, so there's at least some form of law enforcement here if the kids need any help." Stan responded, which put your concerns to rest. So you followed Stan to the basement, and all seemed fine for awhile. Then, you heard the faint sounds of screams and breaking glass from upstairs.

You and Stan glanced at each other, but neither of you even had to say what you were thinking to know that the other was thinking the same thing. The two of you were upstairs in no time at all, Stan armed with the baseball bat he kept in the basement. The Shack was swarming with the grotesque, decaying corpses of the re-animated dead. You vaguely remembered Ford dedicating a page in his third journal to zombies and how to summon them, and you cursed yourself for not ripping that part out before giving the journal back to Dipper. Speaking of Dipper, he was in the back of the gift shop with Mabel, screaming as a zombie grabbed him by the arm. As soon as Stan caught sight of Dipper, he leapt into action. Stan had to fight his way to the twins, receiving scratches and rips in his suit, before he was able to hit the zombie that had ahold of Dipper.

"You two! Attic, now!" Stan said, pointing in the direction of the stairs. The twins didn't move at first, instead staring wide-eyed at Stan. "G-Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked, his voice laced with shock. "I said NOW!" Stan yelled, causing Dipper to get to his feet quickly. "(y/n), make sure they get up there!" Stan directed, as the twins started to run into the living room. You followed Dipper and Mabel up the stairs to their room, keeping an eye on Stan as he followed behind the three of you, fending off the hoard of the undead that limped after you. As you got to the attic, Dipper slammed the door shut behind the three of you, and you all stood waiting with bated breath.

Something started banging heavily on the outside of the door, and you quickly weighed your options. You figured that there was about a fifty percent chance that it was Stan on the other side of that door, and not a zombie. But if it was a zombie, you would be putting the twins in danger by opening the door. Luckily, before you had to make a decision you might regret, the door opened on it's own. Stan stumbled into the room, groaning "Everything hurts." before closing the door behind him and barricading it with a chair. You felt a sense of relief wash over you as you saw that Stan was okay. His suit was torn, and he had a scrape on his chin, but other than that he didn't appear to be seriously injured. You stepped over to him and put a hand on his arm, and as you did, Stan leaned against you for support, his hand clutching his side.

"Grunkle Stan, that was amazing! Are you alright?" Dipper asked, waiting for Stan to nod before adding, "Heh heh, well, at least you guys can't deny magic exists anymore, right?" You and Stan looked at each other, and Stan sighed before turning back to Dipper. "Kid, we've always known." Stan said, causing Dipper's eyebrows to arch in surprise. "Wait, what are you talking about?" Dipper questioned, searching you and Stan's faces for some kind of explanation. "I'm not an idiot, Dipper! Of course this town is weird! And the one thing I know about that weirdness is that it's dangerous!" Stan answered. At that moment, one of the zombies managed to punch through the door, and you all backed away from it. "We've been lying about it to try to keep you away from it. To try to protect you from it!" Stan confessed, pausing as a zombie broke it's way through the window. Stan punched the zombie and it fell backwards, but there were still countless others outside, staring up at you through the broken window. "It looks like I didn't lie well enough." Stan muttered, staring out across the crowd of undead bodies.

"What do we do, what do we do?" Mabel asked frantically, drawing Stan's attention from the window. "Well, normally the journal would help us, but there's nothing in there about defeating zombies! It's hopeless!" Dipper responded, pacing the floor for a moment before stopping next to one of the black lights Stan had bought for the party flyers. A glimmer on one of the journal's pages caught your eye, and you squinted at it to get a better view of what looked like words glowing on the paper. "Wait, wait, wait! The text! It's glowing in the black light!" Mabel exclaimed as she came to the same realization as you. "What?" Dipper questioned, holding the journal next to the black light and flipping through the pages. "All this time I thought I knew all the journal's secrets, but they're written in some kind of invisible ink!" Dipper said excitedly.

"Invisible ink?" Stan asked, turning to look at you questioningly. You shook your head at him to indicate that you were just as bewildered by this as he was. You had never seen any invisible ink in the house, not even in the basement. You felt a sinking feeling in your chest as you realized it could have been hidden in Ford's private study, which he had always told you never to enter. Until today, you were so sure that Ford had always been open and honest with you. But now, it seemed you didn't know as much about Ford as you previously thought.

You were snapped out of your thoughts by Dipper reading off the previously invisible instructions on how to defeat the zombies. "Their skulls can be shattered by a perfect three part harmony." Dipper read, looking around at all of you with a slightly confused expression. "Three part harmony. How can we create that?" Dipper asked, adding that he had a naturally high-pitched scream. Stan offered that he could make noises with his body, sometimes intentionally. "Boys, boys. I think you're both missing the obvious solution." Mabel said, glancing over at you with a mischievous grin. "Ah, Love Patrol Alpha." You said, nodding in agreement. Upon hearing the name of Mabel's dream karaoke group, Dipper and Stan turned to each other in alarm.

You helped Mabel retrieve her karaoke machine, and soon the four of you were standing on the roof of the Shack, looking out over the zombies lingering below. Since it only had to be a three part harmony, Mabel let you off the hook. While the three of them took the karaoke machine, you held a golf club that you found in the attic so that you could fend off the zombies that were climbing up the walls. Stan argued that you should be singing with the twins while he fought off the zombies, but Mabel dismissed his complaint on the grounds that she had already heard you sing, but she had never heard Stan sing. Stan muttered something about how there was a reason she had never heard him sing, but Mabel shushed him and turned the karaoke machine on.

As the three of them sang along to the music, you swung the golf club at the heads of the zombies that made it up to where you stood on the roof. Dipper and Stan clearly were not having as much fun as Mabel, and you would almost laugh at their discomfort if this wasn't such a dire situation. As the song went on, and they started to sing in harmony, the zombies started grabbing their heads and covering their ears. Then suddenly, their heads started to explode. One by one, the bodies of the undead started to drop to the ground, their heads bursting open and flinging thick, green blood across the yard.

One last zombie crawled it's way up to the roof and reached for Dipper, who screamed and stumbled backwards. Mabel yelled out "DUCK!" and shot the zombie with her confetti cannon. The zombie's head went spinning through the air like a well-thrown football and landed directly in the punch bowl. "Thank you! We'll be here all night!" Mabel exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. The sun started to rise over the treetops, and as it did it illuminated the headless corpses scattered around the yard. "Deal with it, zombie idiots!" Stan shouted, laughing to himself as he did. Stan started chanting "Pines! Pines! Pines!" and you and the twins quickly joined in. Stan wrapped an arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his side, looking down at you with that signature Stan Pines grin.

Soon, the four of you were back in the living room looking around at all of the damage the zombies had caused. Stan found his fez on the floor and brushed off the dirt before putting it on his head. "I'm sorry about this guys. I totally ruined everything." Dipper apologized. "Dipper, are you kidding me? I got to sing karaoke with my favorite people in the world! No party could ever top that." Mabel reassured him, causing Dipper to smile appreciatively. "Kids, listen. This town is crazy, so you need to be careful. I don't know what I'd do with myself if you got hurt on my watch. I'll let you hold onto that spooky journal, as long as you promise me you'll only use it for self defense, and not go looking for trouble." Stan said, his tone serious. "Okay, as long as you promise me that you don't have any other bombshell secrets about this town." Dipper bargained.

"Promise." Stan said, but you caught a glimpse of his fingers crossing behind his back. "Promise." Dipper repeated, and you had a feeling that he was secretly crossing his fingers as well. "Well, it looks like we've got a lot of zombie damage to clean up." You said, which caused Stan to look around the room with a frown. "Oh yeah. Where's my handyman anyway?" Stan asked. To answer Stan's question, a zombified Soos stumbled into the room groaning "Brains... Braaaains!"

"Holy Moses!" Stan shouted, grabbing a chair and preparing to hit Soos with it. "Wait! There's a page in here about curing zombification. It's gonna take a lot of formaldehyde." Dipper said, flipping the journal open to the page he was looking for. "Ooh, and cinnamon!" Mabel exclaimed as she leaned over to read the journal. "Come on Soos, let's fix you up." Dipper said as Mabel grabbed a chair and used it to start prodding Soos out of the room. "Brains!" Soos continued to groan as Mabel pushed him toward the kitchen. "Soos, cut it out!" Mabel said exasperatedly, to which Soos responded "Heheh, sorry dude."

As the kids and Soos went into the kitchen, you and Stan were left alone in the wreckage of the living room. Stan slipped out of his jacket, frowning as he held it up and inspected the ripped fabric. "Are you okay?" You asked softly, reaching out to put your hand on Stan's shoulder. "Ah, come on. I'm not too old for a good old fashioned fist fight." Stan responded with a smirk. "Looks like I'm gonna have to get a new suit though." He added, gesturing to the holes in his suit jacket. "We'll go to the store tomorrow and get you a new one." You said, taking the jacket from Stan and folding it up neatly. "What are we gonna do about those two?" Stan asked, gesturing in the direction of the doorway. From the kitchen, you heard Dipper and Mabel laughing amongst themselves. You sighed and shook your head. "I'm not sure, but hopefully after tonight they've learned not to go after trouble." You replied, to which Stan grunted in agreement.

As usual, that wasn't the case. Over the next few weeks the twins got up to all sorts of things, often coming home with scrapes and bruises after spending hours outside by themselves. Whenever you asked what they had been up to, Dipper would try to convince you that they were just up to typical kid things like building forts and playing in the woods. You could always count on Mabel for the truth though, and she would happily give you a detailed, in-depth account of their adventures. According to Mabel, she and Dipper found Ford's bunker in the forest. Of course, they only knew that the bunker belonged to the author of the journal that Dipper had found earlier this summer.

You had to pretend to be only mildly interested as Mabel told you her thrilling tale of discovering the bunker, nearly being crushed in the security room, and defeating the shapeshifter. You remembered when Ford found the shapeshifter and brought it to his bunker to observe it. You used to spend time down there with Ford while he conducted experiments on various creatures that he had captured in the woods. The bunker was reserved for the more dangerous creatures; the research area of the bunker had only been built after an incident involving a gremloblin that nearly resulted in the destruction of the Shack. Ford had asked Fiddleford to build cryo-chambers and an observation room protected by shatter-proof glass so that Ford could continue his research in a more secure area.

When Ford first brought the shapeshifter to the bunker he let it roam freely in his research room, as it didn't seem to cause much trouble. But as time went on, the shapeshifter developed a form of sentience and started to mimic Ford's speech. At first, Ford was amazed by the rapid evolution of the creature, which led him to conduct more experiments on it. After a few months of this, the shapeshifter decided that it didn't want to be experimented on anymore, and it started to fight back. You tried to tell Ford that it wasn't safe, but he was certain that he could handle it. Unfortunately, the shapeshifter became so violent that Ford couldn't handle it on his own, and it gave Ford a pretty bad beating one night when he had gone to the bunker alone. After that, Ford kept the shapeshifter in one of the cryo-chambers when he wasn't researching it, and he never let it out while he was alone.

You were surprised to hear that the shapeshifter was still alive, and out of its cryo-chamber. You hadn't been in the bunker since before Ford was pulled into the portal, and after that you had almost entirely forgotten about the shapeshifter. Mabel said that it tricked Dipper by taking the form of a mascot for a canned bean company, and that it was able to speak as well as a person. This was news to you, as the last time you had seen it unfrozen it had only been able to speak in broken sentences. You knew if Ford heard that it was now fluent in the English language he would be amazed. You were glad to hear that the kids had successfully returned it to a cryo-chamber, and that they all escaped with only minor injuries. You told Mabel to keep Dipper from going back to the bunker because it sounded very dangerous. She replied that she was never going back there, and she didn't think Dipper would want to either since the only interesting thing he found down there was a laptop.

"A laptop?" You asked, frowning slightly. "Yeah, like a computer but smaller." Mabel replied, causing you to laugh. "I know what a laptop is, Mabel. What did Dipper do with it?" You questioned further. "He took it home to investigate it. I don't think it works though, it looks really old." Mabel answered with a shrug. You knew that it must be Fiddleford's old computer. You were surprised that he had left in in the bunker, but you guessed that he hadn't wanted to come back for it after his incident with the portal. You briefly wondered if Fiddleford's laptop had any other portal instructions, but you knew you wouldn't be able to get it away from Dipper without having to explain why you wanted it. So you scratched that idea, and you didn't hear anything else about the laptop after that.

Finding Ford's bunker wasn't the only dangerous activity the twins got up to that summer. Mabel readily told you stories of tiny golfball people living in the mini-golf course, a dating simulator character that escaped her game and wrecked a children's restaurant, the discovery of a secret society, and many other things that made you concerned for the twins' safety. The story that really alarmed you was Mabel's account of what had happened behind the scenes of her sock puppet opera. This was the first story that Mabel didn't immediately dive into the moment you asked her how her day was. For the first time that summer, Mabel tried to get out of telling you her story by beating around the bush. This, of course, made you curious. Over the next couple of days you tried to casually press the subject, knowing that eventually Mabel would give in. On the day that she finally did, she started the conversation like this, "Okay Auntie (y/n), you have to promise you won't freak out."

Then, Mabel proceeded to tell you a story that caused a cold pit of unease to settle in your stomach. A story about a being named Bill Cipher. She told you about Bill possessing Dipper and using him to try and get Ford's journal. She told you that they were able to defeat Bill, which was the explanation for the chaos on stage at the end of her puppet show. Then she told you that they had encountered Bill before. Just before Gideon gained control of the Shack, he hired Bill to get the code to Stan's safe out of Stan's mind. The twins, along with Soos, had to enter Stan's mind and protect the code to the safe. That was when they defeated Bill for the first time, and after that they swore never to tell you or Stan about Bill because they knew that you would freak out if you heard that they had to fight an all-powerful demonic entity.

"So that's why you can't tell Dipper that I told you, okay?" Mabel finished. You stared at Mabel for a second, your jaw hanging open slightly in shock. Then you snapped out of it and nodded to her. "Thanks Auntie (y/n), you're the best!" Mabel exclaimed before skipping out of the room, clearly glad to have this weight off of her shoulders. As soon as her back was turned, you dropped down into a chair behind you. Bill Cipher. You hadn't heard that name in thirty years. Bill, who gave Ford the instructions to build the portal so that he could bring his nightmare realm into your reality. Bill, who broke Ford's trust so completely that, in the days leading up to the incident with the portal, he became like a stranger to you. Bill, who indirectly caused the single greatest tragedy of your life.

Now you were finding out that Bill was back, and that he had crossed paths with the twins not once, but twice. He had entered Stan's mind months ago and the twins had kept it a secret from the both of you. He had even possessed Dipper, and he came close to getting one of Ford's journals. You felt a chill run down your spine as you thought about what Bill could do with that journal. Mabel told you that she was sure that he wouldn't come back again now that they had defeated him twice. But you knew better. The kids only knew Bill as an inconveniencing trickster who could be easily bested by kittens and tickles. You, on the other hand, knew the darker side of Bill. The side of Bill that would stop at nothing to take over the world with the help of the equally powerful chaos entities that he calls friends.

Your fear slowly started to turn to frustration. Bill had stayed away for thirty years, why did he have to come back now? On top of everything else, you now had to keep an eye out for Bill while you waited for the portal to activate. It felt as if the universe was throwing things your way to make it more difficult to keep up the work with the portal. First the kids, then the government, then the zombies, and now Bill. As if those outside forces weren't slowing you down enough, as far as you knew Stan hadn't even gotten any more fuel yet, and you knew that you had to be running low. You started to wonder if you and Stan would ever get that portal open. Then, something happened.

One night, just after everyone else had gone to bed, you heard a sound emanating from the basement. You took the elevator down to the portal room to investigate, and noticed that the screen above the control panel was motionless instead of flashing, as it had been for the last few weeks. When you read the words on the screen, your body froze involuntarily and you felt your breath hitch in your chest. The bright green letters in front of you read 'Scan Completed', and the small labelled sections each had one symbol in them, presumably showing some kind of coordinates. Before your brain could catch up with your body, you were up the stairs and waking up Stan.

Stan followed you down to the basement, where you excitedly pointed out the change in the screen. Stan blinked away the bleariness of sleep from his eyes and stared up at the screen. He glanced down at the blueprints, going over them silently for a moment. He glanced back at the fuel gauge, which was pointing towards the low side, and the empty steel drum beside it. Then Stan nodded to himself and concluded, "Well, it looks like I oughta get that fuel."

Stan stayed up late that night, sketching out his plans long after you had gone back to bed. When you woke up the next morning, Stan was asleep at his desk, his head resting on the stack of papers spread out across the desktop and his pen still gripped in his hand. You couldn't stop yourself from smiling fondly at the sight of him. His face looked perfectly content as he slept, and his mouth was open just slightly to allow air to travel through. You stood and watched the rhythmic rising and falling of his shoulders for a moment, then turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind you. You let him sleep in later than usual, taking it upon yourself to greet customers that showed up at the Shack.

Stan was grateful for the extra rest, because he was up late again that next night. You and Stan spent an hour or so in the evening restocking the gift shop until you were sure that the twins were asleep. Stan told you to follow suit, but you argued against it, telling Stan that you could help him. "(y/n), you can't help with this. If something goes south, I could get in a lot of trouble for what I'm about to do. You can't be any part of that. I won't allow it." Stan said sternly. You opened your mouth to tell him that you were going to help him whether he liked it or not, but then stopped short as you saw the look in his eyes. Behind his usual scowl was a look of genuine concern, and you knew that he really was only telling you off to try and protect you. That look sent all of the fire out of you. You sighed, wishing him luck and giving him a quick kiss before heading to your bedroom.

When you got there, you laid down on your bed and stared up at the dark ceiling. You tried to sleep, but you were unable to keep your eyes closed for very long. The time seemed to drag on slowly as you waited, drumming your fingers against the bed. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Stan poked his head into the room and asked if you were asleep. You immediately slipped out of bed and followed Stan down to the basement. In the basement, Stan had multiple steel drums stacked against a wall. He took one of those drums and, after putting on Ford's old rubber gloves, poured its contents into the machine, causing the arrow on the fuel gauge to move steadily closer to 'full'. He repeated this with the rest of the drums, and when they had all been emptied into the machine the fuel gauge indicated that it was full.

Stan moved over to the control panel and pushed a lever, muttering "Come on, come on," under his breath as the fuel filled the two glass boilers on the wall to your right. "Should be just enough to finish the job." Stan said once the boilers were full, and you nodded in agreement. "Phew. Can't be too careful with this stuff." Stan muttered, lifting his fez off of his head and wiping his forehead with the back of his gloved hand. Some of the fuel from the glove spread onto his forehead as he did so, and you almost mentioned it to him, but the stain quickly dissipated.

The red lights on top of the boilers started to flash, and the screen once again blinked to life. This time the words read 'Event Initialized'. That message was replaced with red numbers that started to count down from eighteen hours. Stan flipped open one of Ford's journals and read aloud, "Warning, blah blah blah, extreme usage could result in minor gravity anomalies." You and Stan glanced at each other momentarily, then Stan flipped the journal shut. "Can it Poindexter! We've come this far, we're not givin' up now!" Stan said, staring up at the portal.

A black mark started to swirl in the center of the machine, a sign you recognized to mean that the portal was beginning to open. "Yes." You whispered, staring in amazement at the portal. "This is it." Stan said excitedly. You noticed his fez lift slightly off of his head, most likely due to those gravity anomalies Ford mentioned in his journal. As Stan's fez dropped back down, the black mark of the portal vanished. "It's gonna be a bumpy ride, but it'll all be worth it." Stan said as he synchronized his watch with the countdown on the screen.

Stan turned to you, grinning from ear to ear. "Just eighteen more hours. Finally, everything changes." Stan said. His words struck you in a way you hadn't expected them to. You realized that you hadn't thought much about what would happen after you activated the portal. You would have Ford back, but what would that bring? It had been thirty years since you had seen him last, who knew how much he had changed since then. Even if he hadn't changed, everything else had. The world had changed so much since 1982, with the advancement of technology and medicine that had seemed to change around you without waiting for you to catch up. Gravity Falls was almost a different town; with old stores replaced by new ones, people having moved in and out, and new buildings added inside the town. Everything that had been Ford's had changed too. His house was now a kitschy tourist attraction, his research either hidden away or thrown out years ago, and his girlfriend was married to his twin brother who had taken his name.

Oh right, his name. You frowned to yourself as you thought about that one. Ford had been trapped in the portal for thirty years, but as far as the world knew he still lived in Gravity Falls. Stan couldn't just go back to being Stanley, because everyone thought that Stanley had died in a car accident during the eighties. You shook the thoughts out of your head for the time being. Right now you should be focused on getting Ford back, no matter what the consequences might be. You could figure all of the rest of that out later. So you directed your attention back to Stan and returned his smile.

Later that morning, after the sun had risen, you and Stan ran into the twins in the upstairs hallway. They were standing in front of an open door, talking excitedly amongst themselves. You caught the tail end of their conversation, which seemingly had to do with a rooftop fireworks party, and glanced at Stan with a quirked brow. Stan stepped over to the twins and stood behind them, his hands on his hips. "Not so fast, kids! There is no way on earth you're setting off those dangerous, illegal fireworks..." Stan started, looking stern for a moment before smiling and wrapping an arm over both of the twins' shoulders, finishing his sentence with, "Without me."

Of course, the twins had found Stan's illegal fireworks stash. Stan had bought them for cheap out of the back of a tourist's truck years ago. He had originally wanted to throw a party and set them all off at once, but you had been able to talk him out of it by convincing him that he could be arrested for setting them off without a permit. After that, you hid them away in a closet so Stan wouldn't be tempted to use them again. Clearly you didn't hide them well enough, because Mabel seemed to have found them without even trying.

"Stan." You said, glancing at the fireworks and then sending Stan a look of disapproval. "Ah, come on. I think we deserve a little harmless fun, even if it's of questionable legal status." Stan responded. The three of them looked up at you pleadingly with hopeful smiles on their faces. "Pleaaaase?" Mabel asked, batting her eyes as pleasantly as she could. You sighed, finally giving in. "Okay, okay. But if the sheriff shows up don't say I didn't warn you." You said, unable to keep a smile from tugging at your lips as Stan and the twins erupted into cheers. They took the boxes of fireworks to the roof, chanting "Fireworks! Fireworks! Fireworks!" as they went. You followed them, laughing softly to yourself.

The four of you spent the next couple of hours on the roof lighting fireworks. As you predicted, the sheriff showed up. Blubbs asked Stan if he had a permit for the fireworks, to which Stan asked if Blubbs had a permit for being "totally lame." Blubbs, who would probably rather be at home on a nice day like today, laughed good-naturedly at Stan's comeback and told you to carry on as he left. Stan laughed, then glanced around the yard, which was covered in small patches of flame and firework debris. "But seriously though, we should probably clean this mess up." Stan said. "With water balloons?" Mabel suggested, her eyes lighting up at the idea. "I don't see why not." Stan responded with a shrug.

So you and Stan sat on the couch outside and watched as Mabel and Dipper ran around the yard, tossing water balloons at each other. You leaned into Stan's side and he wrapped an arm around your shoulders, kissing you on the top of your head. You felt truly content, especially now that it seemed most of your worries were over. You noticed Stan glance at his watch, which showed that there were still many more hours before the portal would open. "Ah. This is what Saturdays are for. Doing dumb things forever." Stan said, taking a sip of his Pitt Cola. "DUMB THINGS FOREVER!" The twins echoed, jumping directly onto their pile of water balloons, which popped and sent water shooting in every direction.

You and Stan moved your legs to avoid having them splashed with water; Stan exclaiming, "Woah there!" as the water hit the floor of the porch where your feet had just been. Mabel raised her popsicle in the air and toasted, "To Grunkle Stan and Auntie (y/n)! Not just a great uncle and aunt..." Which Dipper readily finished with, "The greatest uncle and aunt!" before the two of them tossed more water balloons at you and Stan. The two of you laughed, trying to dodge the water balloons that came your way. "Alright, alright. I tell you it's unnatural for siblings to get along as well as you do." Stan said, and you could tell from the look in his eyes that he was thinking of him and Ford as he said it. "Haha, don't worry! We've still got plenty of summer left to drive each other crazy!" Mabel exclaimed, tackling Dipper, who retaliated by pushing her off and dropping a water balloon on her face.

"Yeah, plenty of summer left." Stan said, chuckling nervously to himself and rubbing the back of his neck. "Kids, there's something I, uh, something I should tell you. It's um, well, it's complicated. I..." Stan stammered, scratching his chin and looking back at you as if asking if he should tell them about the portal. You glanced at the twins' confused faces, then looked back at Stan expectantly, waiting to see what he was going to decide. You could see his confidence waver momentarily, then he lost his nerve and finished with "I'm gonna go refresh my soda."

You sighed as you watched Stan walk around the corner of the Shack. You had been hiding the secret of the portal from the twins all summer, but it looked like you were going to have to tell them about it sooner rather than later. Stan had been struggling with trying to find a way to explain it to them. He knew that no matter what he said, the twins would probably be angry with him for keeping such a big part of his life from them. Now that the portal was finally opening, he was running out of time to come up with his explanation. All you could hope for was that the kids would at least understand why you and Stan had been lying to them these last few months. Stan would never admit it, but it would break his heart if Dipper and Mabel were mad at him over this.

As you finished your thought, you heard the roar of low-flying aircraft and looked up to see helicopters flying above the Shack. A group of people in helmets and vests surrounded you and the twins, while others busted open doors and windows to get into the Shack. Dipper and Mabel scooted closer to you, staring up at you with wide eyes. Before you could say anything to them, you heard Stan shout, "Hey, hands off, you stooge!" from the driveway. As you looked in the direction of his voice, you saw one of the agents leading Stan away from the Shack. Stan's hands were behind his back, his wrists shackled together with silver handcuffs that glinted brightly in the sunlight.

Towards you stepped two men that you had hoped you would never see again. Government agents Powers and Trigger. You were surprised to see them alive, as Dipper had told you the story of how he had accidentally gotten them eaten by zombies. As you recalled that incident, Dipper voiced your thoughts aloud. "The government guys? I thought you got eaten by zombies!" He exclaimed. "We survived. Barely." Agent Trigger explained, shuddering at the memory. "I used Trigger as a human shield. He cried like a baby." Agent Powers said, to which his partner responded, "What? Hey! Not in front of the special-ops guys!"

Powers pulled out a tablet and held it up, showing the video playing on the screen. "This is footage of a government waste facility. At o'four hundred hours last night someone robbed three hundred gallons of dangerous waste." Powers said, looking pointedly at Stan. "What? You think that's me?" Stan asked incredulously, but you could see the sweat breaking out on his forehead. "Don't play dumb with us, Pines." Powers snapped. "But-but I actually am dumb! Last night I was stocking the gift shop. I swear!" Stan responded as an agent led him to one of the government vehicles and forced him into the back seat.

Agent Powers then turned his attention to you. "Mrs. Pines, we'd appreciate it if you would come with us." Powers said in a tone that indicated that this wasn't just a suggestion. "What about the kids?" You asked, your hands going to Dipper and Mabel's shoulders protectively. "We'll take care of the children." Powers answered simply, holding his hand out in a gesture that was meant to direct you toward the vehicle Stan was in. You looked down at Dipper and Mabel, who were yet again staring up at you. You sighed and squeezed their shoulders comfortingly before following one of the agents to the car. The agent opened the door to the back seat for you and shut it behind you as soon as you climbed in.

You and Stan looked out the window and watched as Powers said something to the twins before Trigger led them to another car and escorted them into its back seat. "Kids, you gotta believe me! For once I'm actually innocent!" Stan shouted through the open window to the twins, who stared helplessly back at him. As the car pulled out of the Mystery Shack's driveway, you and Stan sat back in your seats. You could feel Stan's eyes on you as you stared at the back of the seat in front of you, breathing deeply to calm your nerves. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Stan open his mouth to say something, then close it again as he decided against it. It was quiet for a minute, aside from the low rumbling of the car's engine. Finally, you decided that the agent driving the car wasn't paying any attention to you, and you couldn't keep yourself from saying something any longer.

"Government facility?" You asked simply, your voice almost a whisper. Stan glanced at you and sighed irritably as he recognized the expression on your face. "(y/n), don't start with this." Stan grumbled, but you ignored him. "You knew that those agents were watching you and you broke into a government facility?" You continued, forcing your voice to stay low enough that the driver couldn't hear. "Well where else was I supposed to get toxic waste? The drug store?" Stan countered. "Maybe, if there wasn't anywhere else to get it, you shouldn't have gotten it at all." You snapped, leaning closer to Stan over the middle seat of the car. "I'm not arguing with you over this. Not today." Stan said through gritted teeth, turning away from you to look out the window as the trees rolled by.

You sat back and crossed your arms over your chest, hearing your heart pounding in your ears. You were frustrated with Stan for being more careless than usual, but mostly you were just scared. You stared at the scenery as you passed it by, trying not to think about the consequences of Stan's actions. He could be put in prison for a theft of this magnitude. You didn't know what you would do if Stan was in jail and you were left to finish opening the portal alone. The machine was dangerous; perhaps not the doomsday device that Agent Powers thought it was, but powerful and unstable nonetheless. For a brief moment you wondered whether it would have been better not to fix the portal, to just let it rust down in the basement until the end of time so it couldn't cause any more trouble.

"Whatever it takes." Stan said quietly, finally breaking the silence and pulling you out of your thoughts. "What?" You questioned, turning your attention over to Stan. He was still looking out of the window, seeming to be lost in thoughts of his own. "Whatever it takes," Stan repeated, turning to face you before continuing, "That's what we agreed on. When we started rebuilding the portal, we promised that we would fix it no matter what it took. That's why I did what I did. Because if I hadn't, there would have been no other way to open the portal, and we would have lost our last chance at getting him back."

Stan's sincerity struck a chord in your heart, and your anger at his actions fizzled away. You could see a look of relief cross Stan's face as he saw your expression soften. "You're right. I'm sorry for snapping at you, I'm just... I'm scared." You admitted, your voice no higher than a whisper. Stan scooted closer to you and you instinctively leaned your head on his shoulder. You felt Stan rest his cheek against the top of your head, and a smile came to your lips despite your worries. "Everything's gonna be okay (y/n), I promise. Trust me, I'll come up with a plan to get away from these agents, and then there won't be anything standing in our way. Just a few more hours and all of this will have been worth it." Stan said comfortingly, and you nodded softly in agreement.

The driver stopped the car in front of the Gravity Falls police station. After the agent got out, he directed you and Stan out of the car and into the station. Stan was lead around the station to have his mugshot and fingerprints taken, then he was locked into an interrogation room. Agent Powers instructed you to sit on a bench in the hallway, then not-so-subtly asked one of the agents to keep an eye on you. You sat on the bench, twiddling your thumbs nervously as you watched Powers enter the interrogation room that Stan was in with a handful of other agents.

They were only in there for a few minutes before they left, talking amongst themselves about Stan asking for a phone call. You wondered who he was calling, and why. Agent Powers directed his attention to you, and walked towards you down the hallway. "Mrs. Pines, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your husband." Powers said once he was standing next to you. You glanced at the door to the interrogation room that Stan was in, then returned your gaze to Powers. "Alright." You responded, standing and following Powers into another holding room.

You sat down in one of the chairs at the table and watched as Powers closed the door behind the two of you before taking a seat across from you. "Before we begin, I want you to know that I understand if your inclination is to protect your husband, even if that means lying for him. But I want you to know that Stan Pines is a very dangerous individual, and he may have been keeping some secrets about himself from you. So I would appreciate it if you would answer these questions honestly." Powers said. You had to fight hard to keep your eyes from rolling. You were sure Powers had used that same spiel before questioning the wives of other criminals, and you had no doubt that some of them had actually fallen for it. But you weren't just some ignorant woman who hadn't noticed the crimes that her husband had committed. You were well aware of everything Stan had done, and you wouldn't be tricked into giving up his secrets to this smug, egotistical agent.

So you played the "innocent wife" role, answering all of Powers' questions with "I don't know." and "I had no idea." You even threw in a little monologue about how you had never seen this coming, Stan seemed like such a good person, how could he do this to you, blah blah blah. You even managed to make yourself tear up, at which point Agent Powers offered you a handkerchief and thanked you for your candor. He led you back out of the room and asked you to wait on the bench, this time neglecting to appoint you a guard. Powers then rounded up his agents and left the station, leaving you by yourself in the hallway. You laughed under your breath once you were alone, thanking Agent Powers for being so gullible. You were tempted to enter the interrogation room, but you were pretty sure you had seen Powers lock the door before he left so there was no way for you to get in there. Instead, you leaned against the back of the bench and closed your eyes.

You were there for what felt like hours. The hallway you were in was empty, so every now and then you would stand and pace the floor to pass the time. You watched outside the windows as the sun slowly slipped behind the horizon, causing the sky to turn vibrant shades of red and orange. Finally, just as you sat back down on the bench, Agent Powers returned. He walked straight past you, followed by the same handful of agents as before. You watched as he unlocked the door to the interrogation room and entered it along with the other agents. You couldn't hear what they were saying through the door, but you had a feeling that Powers was getting impatient with Stan's evasiveness.

Suddenly, you felt the bench beneath you shift slightly. You looked down at the bench in confusion and noticed that the legs of the bench were starting to hover just off of the ground. You realized that it must be another gravity anomaly caused by the portal, and judging by how high the bench was beginning to get, the portal was close to opening. You grabbed onto the arm of the bench as you felt yourself start to float off of it. You were distracted from your situation by a commotion coming from the interrogation room. You heard Powers shout something, then watched as Stan leaped out of the room and closed the door behind him. "No! You won't get away with this!" You heard Powers shout as Stan locked the door behind him.

You heard Stan's watch beep a couple of times, and then you and the bench were back on the ground. Stan turned around and saw you sitting in the hallway beside him. "Come on, there's not much time left!" Stan exclaimed, running over to you and grabbing your hand to pull you along with him. As soon as you and Stan were out of the police station, you hit the ground running. Stan spotted a taxi and skidded to a stop next to it, asking the driver if he knew where the Mystery Shack was. You were about to tell Stan that it would be too dangerous to take a taxi back to the Shack, but Stan instead told the driver to get as far away from the Shack as possible.

"Good thinking." You said as Stan pulled you behind a wrecked car to hide from the agents. Stan flashed you a grin and the two of you waited while Powers finally got outside of the station and ordered his men to follow the taxi, which was speeding down the road in the opposite direction of where you were going. Once all of the agents had gotten in their cars and sped after the taxi, you and Stan took off running through town, your feet pounding on the pavement as you went. Stan still had a firm grip on your hand, and you were thankful for it as it kept you balanced when you felt like you might stumble.

The buildings and roads of the town faded into the distance behind you and were replaced by tall trees and a dirt path. Your lungs burned with the effort as you tried to breathe, and your feet ached from running such a long distance with no breaks. But the countdown on Stan's watch was dwindling away, and you had to get back to the Shack before the clock hit zero. After thirty years of waiting, you weren't going to miss this. No matter how hard you had to run. A stray branch that was reaching out over the dirt road snagged on Stan's suit and tore a hole in the sleeve. Stan ignored it and kept running, glancing at you to make sure you were keeping up.

You could see the Shack through the trees now, and it brought a breath of fresh energy to your body. Your legs started to move even faster, and you and Stan quickly closed the distance between you and the Shack. Your feet hit the porch so hard you thought you might break it, but you kept going. Stan held open the door and the two of you entered the gift shop, sweating and panting for breath. You looked up at the vending machine and felt a cold chill run down your spine. The vending machine was standing open, the stairway beneath exposed to your view. You and Stan shared a look of alarm, then you rushed through the entrance and down the stairs to the elevator.

Stan took a quick look at his watch again as you stood in the elevator, waiting impatiently to reach the basement. You glanced at his watch and felt your heart skip a beat as you saw that you had just over a minute left. After all these years you were finally so close to opening the portal again, to getting Ford back. But things were never as easy as you hoped they would be, and you were sure that the open vending machine was a bad sign. You felt a familiar sense of dread wash over you, but you did your best to push it away. As you reached the basement, the elevator doors opened to reveal Dipper, Mabel, and Soos all standing in the portal room around the emergency shut-off button.

The world seemed to freeze around you as you watched Dipper raise his hand above the button. Luckily, Stan was able to think on his feet, and he ran to the doorway to the portal room. "DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" Stan yelled, reaching a hand out towards Dipper. Stan was holding onto the doorframe to keep himself on his feet, and he was panting heavily after running all the way here. Everyone turned to face him, but Dipper's hand stayed poised over the shut-off button. "Dipper, just back away." Stan said, but Dipper stood his ground, his hand suspended in the air. "Please don't press that shutdown button. You gotta trust me." Stan pleaded, taking a few steps toward Dipper.

"And I should trust you why? After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer?! I don't even know who you are!" Dipper argued, his face contorted in fury. "Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on! If you'd just let me explain-" Stan said, but he was cut off by his watch beeping urgently. At this point, you had made it from the elevator to the doorway, and you looked down as you felt the ground start to rumble beneath your feet. "Uh-oh, oh no, brace yourselves!" Stan exclaimed as the portal started to spin faster, causing the gravity to fluctuate. You tried to hold onto the doorframe as you were pulled into the air, but it slipped out of your grasp and you floated up to the ceiling of the portal room.

You heard a robotic voice from the control panel say, "T-minus thirty five seconds." The portal was almost completely open now, and it looked just the way you remembered it. A gaping black maw filled with unrecognizable stars from some unknown universe. "Dipper!" You heard Mabel cry, and noticed that she was caught on a wire next to the portal. "Mabel! Hurry! Shut it down!" Dipper called to her from somewhere to your right. Mabel started to pull herself down using the wire, trying to reach the button. "Mabel, stop!" You heard yourself shout, and caught the sound of Stan echoing the same words. Stan had pushed off of the ceiling in an attempt to reach Mabel, but Soos intercepted him before he could get close to her. "Soos, what're you doing?! I gave you an order!" Stan yelled, trying to push Soos off of him but ultimately failing.

"Sorry Mr. Pines, if that is your real name, but I have a new mission now! Protecting these kids!" Soos exclaimed, keeping a tight grip on Stan. "Soos, you idiot, let me go!" Stan argued, still struggling in his grasp. Dipper pushed off of the wall and collided with Stan and Soos, sending the three of them flying through the air a few feet. "Go! Mabel, press the red button! Shut it down!" Dipper shouted, his hand pressed against Stan's face. "No, you can't! You gotta trust me!" Stan pleaded with Mabel, pushing Dipper away from him. "Grunkle Stan, I don't even know if you're my grunkle! I wanna believe you, but-" Mabel started, unable to finish her sentence as her throat was choked with a sob.

As you looked at Mabel, you realized that she had started to cry. Her tears were lifted off of her cheeks and they floated up above her, twinkling like stars in the lights on the machine. Seeing the hurt and confusion on her face caused tears to well up in your eyes as well, and you found yourself unable to wipe them away. "Then listen to me. Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?" Stan asked. Before Mabel could respond, the voice at the control panel spoke once again, this time saying "T-minus twenty seconds." A bright flash of light came from the portal, and a wave of energy pushed you back against the wall, nearly knocking the breath out of your lungs.

"I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" Stan finished, now pressed against the wall with Dipper and Soos beside him. "Mabel, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!" Dipper called out to Mabel. "Look into my eyes Mabel. You really think I'm a bad guy?" Stan asked, his voice soft, but still loud enough for Mabel to hear. "He's lying! Shut it down NOW!" Dipper yelled. "Mabel, please!" Stan pleaded.

You could faintly hear the control panel voice start to count down from ten. You felt helpless as you watched Mabel clinging to the pole that held the shutdown button, her eyes darting between Stan and Dipper. Her hair swayed lightly as it floated above her head, curling and twisting due to the energy from the portal. The portal loomed behind her, standing open like the jaws of a monster just waiting to bite down on anyone who got too close. Mabel's tears floated into the portal and joined the flecks of starlight that were sprinkled across the black canvas of the sky. You felt as if your heart had stilled in your chest as you waited with bated breath during the few, agonizingly long seconds that it took Mabel to make her decision. Time itself seemed trapped in suspension as Mabel's hand hovered over the shutdown button, unaware of the true power that it held. If Mabel pressed that button, it would undo the thirty years of work that you and Stan had done on the portal. It would erase the only chance you had of seeing Ford again.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mabel spoke. "Grunkle Stan..." Mabel started, squeezing her eyes shut. "I trust you." She finished, lifting her hand away from the button and letting go of the stand, slowly drifting up and away from it. You felt relief crash over you like a wave, and you closed your eyes against the brightening of the portal. "Mabel are you crazy?! We're all gonna-" You heard Dipper start to yell, but he was cut off by the computer saying, "One."

There was a blinding flash of white light, the same as the night that Ford was sucked into the portal. A scream was ripped from your throat involuntarily, but you could barely hear it over the roaring sound of the portal. You were almost positive that you blacked out for a second, but you came to the second you hit the ground. You opened your eyes, squinting as you tried to make out what was happening around you. The machine had been torn to pieces by the force of the portal, and it now lay in large chunks around the basement. The wires and cables that were attached to the machine were sending sparks into the air that fizzled out before they could reach the ground. The largest piece of the machine, the piece that had the portal in the center, was still upright but leaning at a slight angle. The portal was now glowing a dim blue, and little bolts of electricity were jumping out from its center and grazing the wreckage around it.

A faint dark spot appeared in the center of the portal, and you pushed yourself up onto your elbows to get a better look. As you watched it, the spot slowly got larger until you could make out the faint outline of a human figure. Even though you couldn't see the figure's face, somewhere deep down inside of you, you knew that it was him. You felt your heart twist in your chest as if it had been wrung out like a wet rag. It had been thirty years. Thirty years of pain, and heartache, and longing. Now, finally, those years were coming to a close.

Dipper had also spotted the figure, who had now stepped out of the portal and reached down to grab one of the journals that was laying amongst the debris. "What...? Who is that?" Dipper asked, his eyes wide as he watched the cloaked figure stop in front of the five of you. "The author of the journals..." Stan answered, his gaze directed unwaveringly at the figure and his voice laced with amazement. You watched as the figure slowly pulled off his goggles, revealing a face that you almost thought you would never see again. Just the sight of him caused your throat to choke with emotion. He looked so much older, so much more serious, but it was still that same familiar face you knew from decades ago. As Ford's gaze turned and met yours for the first time in thirty years, you heard Stan finish his introduction.

"...My brother."


End file.
